Area children will have another opportunity to go to summer camp

DEXTER — Last summer several dozen SAD 46-area children in grades 2-5 had the opportunity to attend a summer camp offered through the town on Lake Wassookeag thanks to a grant from the William and Joan Alfond Foundation. In 2017 the camp will return as the foundation has given another donation to benefit the youth of Dexter and the surrounding communities.
During a Feb. 16 town council meeting resident John Parola — who was instrumental in getting the camp up and running — said he had an $11,000 contribution from the William and Joan Alfond Foundation to present to the town to fund the 2017 edition of the summer camp.
“That’s excellent, that was a great program,” Council Chair Marica Delaware said as she came forward to accept the check.
The program was held during the week over a month with campers taking part in athletics, free swim, arts and crafts, a shared book reading experience and more during the mornings and afternoons. Lunch was provided free every day to the youngsters, through a federal program as well as by the Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis on Fridays via the organization’s backpack program, and camp officials coordinated busing to bring the participants to and from camp.
In other business, the council accepted a donation of over $2,500 in items for the Lake Wassookeag beach area from the Dexter Revitalization Committee. The items include three picnic tables, a trio of charcoal grills, a sand volleyball court, horseshoe pits, trash receptacles and signage.
Committee Chair Frank Spizuoco said the group hopes that in exchange for the donations the town would be able to provide some labor for the various projects. He said the revitalization committee would like to erect a pavilion — the group would fund the materials — this year and two more in 2018 as well as resurfacing the playground and fixing up the walkway.
“We think we can do the rest of the labor ourselves,” Spizuoco said about other upgrades to the beach area.
The council gave its approval to the donation package. “Thank you to the revitalization committee for looking at this, it’s very exciting,” Delaware said.
Watson said the Maine Department of Transportation is looking at a project to fix-up Route 7, starting in August. As part of the work the state will need to acquire five small adjacent town-owned parcels and this acquisition was approved at a cost of $3,169.
The money for the properties will be deposited in a sidewalk paving account. Should the town’s sidewalk project by delayed beyond the current fiscal year then the $3,169 would go to a sidewalk reserve account.
“This has been a really frustrating storm as everyone can attest to,” Watson said in her report. “But the end is in sight and it’s called spring, and then we will complaining about the mud.” The town manager said a municipal crew and contractors would be working during the weekend to haul away snow from the storm that dropped over two feet on the community earlier in the week.